Meet This Mentor: Renee Cafaro

Our next Mentor on our Mind of a Mentor podcast is Renee Cafaro, the current US Editor of plus size fashion magazine SLiNK. Renee currently lives in New York City and began her foray into fashion when she created Foxy Roxy, a luxury plus size style blog, in 2010.

Since starting her fashion journalism career Renee has been published in Yahoo! Travel, NY Post, and several other online publications. Prior to this success, Renee had a 13-year career in city & state politics. Among her many political accomplishments, Renee was the youngest member of the senior staff for former Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer. In 2008 she became part of New York Governor David Paterson’s administration. Unfortunately, that same year, while in search of treatment for the Fibromyalgia pain she had been dealing with since childhood she was given an unexpected diagnosis. The NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases diagnosed her with Seronegative Arthritis.

Renee’s chronic pain disorders created obstacles that took perseverance and hard work to overcome. At 17, she was starting her junior year at Stanford University and the administration was not accommodating to her condition. This ultimately caused her to leave before graduation. Despite this setback, and the chronic pain and bullying she faced throughout her life Renee was resilient and created a happy and successful life for herself. She has great passion for sharing her story and helping others dealing with similar issues. She even toured the US as the Arthritis Foundation’s National Honoree, raising awareness for invisible diseases.

She has also lent her voice to countless causes on Capitol Hill, and now spends her career helping others find their beauty and confidence, while combatting the effects of cyberbullying, misogyny and size prejudice. As if all of that didn’t make her the coolest gal around, she is also the lead singer in a hard rock cover band, where she is able to let off some steam and get some much-needed work-life balance. Renee hopes that by sharing her story she will inspire women who are feeling alone or helpless to have faith and persevere in the face of adversity.

Marla Isackson is a seasoned marketing executive with over 25 years’ experience creating innovative marketing campaigns for world-famous brands including Citibank, American Express, Barnes & Noble, and WebMD. A longtime passionate supporter of womens’ initiatives, Marla is the founder of Like a Boss Girls (likeabossgirls.com), a website providing young women the tools, information and inspiration they need to define, explore and connect with their goals — including finding (or creating) their dream job, becoming entrepreneurs, social activists, leaders, basically pursuing success however they may define it.